Courtesy of Judith Gregg Librarian Catherine Arbogast heads out with a personalized book delivery from the Los Altos main library.

Love of learning and curiosity about the world sometimes grow only more urgent as a person spends more and more time at home, limited by age, health condition, or both. Librarians head out from the Los Altos main l...

Already known as an innovator in the tech field, Google Inc. is now moving in on the art world.

The Mountain View-based company July 11 launched the “Paint the Town” contest, a “moving art experiment” that invites California residents over the age of 13 to submit physical or digital artwork that would decorate the door...

Traci Newell/Town Crier The six-week, tuition-free Stretch to Kindergarten program, hosted at Bullis Charter School, serves children who have not attended preschool. A teacher leads children in singing about the parts of a butterfly, above.

courtesy of Rishi Bommannan Rishi Bommannan cycled from Bates College in Maine to his home in Los Altos Hills, taking several selfies along the way. He also raised nearly $13,000 for the Livestrong Foundation, which supports cancer patients.

The Town Crier’s recent article on coyotes venturing down from the foothills in search of sustenance referenced the organization Project Coyote (“Recent coyote attacks keep residents on edge,” July 1). Do not waste your time contac...

Photos by Alicia Castro/Town Crier Local residents participate in an exercise class at the Grant Park Senior Center, above. Betsy Reeves, below left with Gail Enenstein, lobbied for senior programming in south Los Altos.

Grace Wilson Franks, our beloved mother and grandmother, left us peacefully on July 16, 2015 just a few weeks short of her 92nd birthday. She was born to Ross and Florence (Cruzan) Wilson in rural Tulare, California on Septem...

Most of us have a place inside our hearts and minds that occasionally causes us trouble. For some, it is sadness, depression or despair. For others, it may be fear, anger, resentment or myriad other emotional “dark places” that at times seem to hij...

Photo by Ellie Van Houtte/Town CrierAngela Sanders pieces together precious stones and tiles into detailed works of art in her home studio. Her work is currently on display at the Nature Gallery in Los Altos.

Angela Sanders balances a block of precious stone on the edge of a sharp, chiseled wedge of metal. With one swing of her hammer, she creates a clean break in the material. After several hits, she yields uniform squares smaller than the width of her pinky finger. To create artistic masterpieces in glass and stone, Sanders has learned to overcome fear in more than one way.

“Nothing is so precious that you should be afraid of it,” said Sanders of the 24-karat gold-coated glass and rare stone she frequently uses in her colorful creations. “You can’t be afraid to change your vision.”

An engineer and dedicated mother of two, Sanders did not always have time to pursue artistic endeavors. When her children matured into young adults, she found time to paint and make prints in her home studio in Los Altos Hills. But it wasn’t until she visited her ancestral home in Hull, England, that her interest in fine-art mosaics emerged. Finding inspiration in the Romano-British mosaics unearthed from local fields on display at the Hull and East Riding Museum, Sanders began her journey into the medium in 2005.

Piecing a passion together

With an eye toward detail, training from the San Francisco Art Institute and a certificate in Chinese painting, Sanders found an intrinsic fit working in mosaics.

“Mosaics create their own language,” she said. “I try to make (the mosaics) into a story that is interesting and intriguing.”

Sanders found training and mentorship through the Chicago Mosaic School, the first in the Americas.

She works with the materials to tell a story. Beginning with sketches on paper, her creations layer elements of texture and contrast into modern art. Her work decorates the canvas of pool decks and homes, as well as walls and floors.

In one of her most recent pieces, “The Fire,” on display at Nature Gallery at 296 State St., she drew inspiration from personal memory and Mother Nature. The approximately 12- inch-by-15-inch creation, anchored by a piece of petrified wood and surrounded by warm red, orange and yellow hues of cut and chipped glass and stone, evolved from last summer’s 250,000-acre wildfire at Yosemite National Park. The work reflects Sanders fascination with Mother Nature’s need for destruction to bring about new growth and her personal memory of getting married at Yosemite.

Focused on completing her piece, Sanders spent 12-15 hours a day working on the piece for nearly two months.

When Carol Garsten of Nature Gallery saw the piece, she invited Sanders to display a selection of her work at the shop. The artwork on display is priced from $1,800 to $6,000. Sanders also creates customized mosaic work on commission.

Submit a Letter to the Editor

The Town Crier welcomes letters to the editor on current events pertinent to Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. Write to us at 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022, Attn: Editor, or email editor Bruce Barton at bruceb@latc.com. Because editorial space is limited, please confine letters to no more than 200 words. Include a phone number for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will not be printed.

You can also have your say right here at losaltosonline.com – scroll to the bottom of any story to add a comment.